


Hope The Future Changes : Not The Clone Wars

by Mischieffoal



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types
Genre: AU of an AU, Gen, Re-Entry, thanks to Flamethrower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 04:05:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2533541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischieffoal/pseuds/Mischieffoal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Siri Tachi is stuck on a wet, slimy planet in the middle of nowhere. She was prepared for a boring few hours. She didn't get what she expected. Also, she did not sign up for this future, and could she please have a refund?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope The Future Changes : Not The Clone Wars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flamethrower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamethrower/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Clattering Feet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2434490) by [flamethrower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamethrower/pseuds/flamethrower). 
  * Inspired by [Knock On Effect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2020254) by [dogmatix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogmatix/pseuds/dogmatix), [norcumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/norcumi/pseuds/norcumi). 



> This is inspired by flamethrower's Re-Entry series, and will make absolutely no sense if you haven't read those amazing series!  
> This is set from Siri Tachi's point of view, soon after Clattering Feet.

It was a dead end. That much was clear. Fucking bullshitting bartender with his fucking bullshit coordinates. To get here on time, Siri Tachi had overheated the dimensional drive on the old tin can she’d ‘acquired’ from the same bartender (what do you mean, she was being hypocritical? It wasn’t like anyone would miss the old rust-bucket). And now, it seemed that ‘here’ wasn’t even the right place. She sighed, and jumped out of the cockpit. Since the Cathedral, it had all been damned dead ends. She kicked open the engine compartment, and sighed harder. The thing was probably going to take hours to cool down. She poked around a bit to get it to start up when it was ready, and set about securing the area.

 

Siri had checked out the surrounding bog, and had hidden the ship as well as she could in the Force, and was now bored. She probably should’ve meditated. But she wasn’t in the mood. Which meant she _really_ should have meditated.

Fortunately, she was distracted by a disturbance in the Force to her right. She jumped up, lightsaber drawn, and faced the area eagerly. Suva was probably screaming at her from beyond the Void.

There was a visible shimmer, and two figures appeared, back to back, lightsabers (one blue, one green) also drawn. One human, one Togruta. She recognised them both from...somewhere. They didn’t relax when they saw her, until the human’s eyes widened. “Siri? Siri Tachi?”

Siri gawked. She recognised them from _memories_ \- and not her own ones. “Annie? And Ahsoka?”

The older (younger?) Anakin grinned, and lowered his lightsaber. His padawan followed suit, albeit more slowly.

 

They lit them again immediately, as the Force rippled once more, and another pair appeared - one tiny green skinned humanoid on one human’s back. Well, one Sith’s back.

Siri took her blaster from it’s holster and aimed it at young-Anakin, and kept her saber aimed at the Sith lord. “Hey, Venge.”

Venge blinked his yellow eyes in Anakin’s direction, and ignored Siri.

Jelia waved at Siri from Venge’s back, but didn’t get down. Sensible kid.

Anakin stared back at Venge, and Siri swore vehemently under her breath.

“Master?” Anakin murmured.

Ahsoka’s eyes flicked between the four other Jedi(ish) in the clearing.

Siri caught her gaze. _Whatever happens, we try and stop them fighting, agreed?_

The Togruta didn’t seem surprised at the silent message, and sent back a clear “ _yes_ ”. Good. Odd, but good.

Maybe with Ahsoka, they could get out of this, frankly toxic, situation. Siri snorted out loud, and shook her head in response to Young-Anakin and Venge’s glares. How could she even think that was a possibility? Anakin didn’t even know who Sidious was yet, and here he was, opposite his own Master, who was staring at him through the eyes of a Sith.

Jeila lightly dropped to the ground and ran to Siri’s side. She patted the kid’s head with the force, and went back to staring at the two nearly-Jedi.

“Who are you?” Young-Anakin spat out.

“Well, I’m not your goody-two-shoes Master Obi-Wan.” Venge sneered.

“Funny, I figured that much.” Young-Anakin shot back.

Siri swore, out loud this time. “Can I get you two to promise not to kill each other, just until we can work out what the hell is going on?”

“Well, I’m not going to kill him.” Venge said lazily, as he levitated a small rock from the boggy floor.

“I’m not making any promises until you tell me who you are, and what you’ve done with my Master!”

“Telling you that would definitely be counter-productive.”

“Did you kill him?” Young-Anakin demanded, and Jeila flinched. “Possess him?”

Jeila ran over to Young-Anakin. “Please don’t fight, Annie!”

The younger/older Anakin reached down absent mindedly to pat her on the head. “It’s okay, Jeila-” He looked down suddenly when his hand hit her head. “Wow, I’d forgotten how tiny you used to be!”

Jeila grinned up at him, and across the clearing Venge barked out a laugh.

“Well done, Padawan.”

Young-Anakin looked up. “Wait, what?” Then he glanced down at the initiate again. “Aw, damn, I didn’t know her first time around, did I?”

Venge laughed again. “No, you didn’t.”

“Wait, _what_?!” Ahsoka demanded. “What the hell?”

“Little ears!” Young-Anakin covered Jeila’s ears as she giggled.

“Uh, yeah, I second Snips…” Siri said quietly.

“Ugh, not you as well.” Ahsoka muttered.

 _Sorry!_ Siri mouthed. _That’s what he refers to you as!_

Venge wandered over to join the rest of them. “Annie isn’t from the Other-When, Siri, he’s from our future. We’re not from your present, Ahsoka, we’re from your past.”

“Why the hell did you do that, Annie? I thought I was gonna have to stop you killing Obi-Wan!”

“Jeez, it was just a joke!”

Jeila poked Anakin (what was he now? Future-Anakin?) in the leg. “Why were you all fighting?”

Anakin dropped down to her level. “It was just a joke, I was messing around with our Master. Sorry to scare you, little sister-padawan.”

“S’okay, as long as I get a piggy-back ride.”

Anakin grinned, and happily obliged.

Ahsoka frowned, and crossed her arms. “Anakin Skywalker, you’re gonna be the death of me.”

“Don’t say that, it tends to come true.” Venge murmured. Siri punched him in the arm. He grinned.

Anakin stood up and hugged Snips. “Hey, I was just kidding around. Sorry if I caused irrevocable damage to your nerves.”

She hit him not very gently on the head.

Venge had his head on his side, in his ‘considering cat’ position, as Siri had begun to call it. Alright, she’d only begun calling it that a second ago, but whatever. “I mean it, Annie. Well done. I couldn’t tell you were lying. Your shielding has improved greatly.”

“It has?” Annie self-consciously scratched the back of his neck. Siri smirked to see that the trait had survived to adulthood - for the second time. “Well, you were a really good- teacher.”

“And your hair illusion was very convincing.”

Anakin grinned at the praise, as he let the illusion go.

Damn. He had created the short haircut and the padawan braid, and she hadn’t noticed at all. Damn, he was good. Siri switched off her lightsaber and sat down. She immediately regretted her decision, and brushed mud off her trousers. Ahsoka also turned off her saber, but kept it in her hand. Was she still wary of Venge? Perhaps she hadn’t met him yet. Obviously Siri wasn’t completely relaxed around him, but really, he wasn’t that bad.

 

“What war are you fighting, then?” Venge asked a while later. They had all given up on finding a dry seat and were currently hovering in the air. Siri was reminded of Master Yoda and his hoverchair.

“Well, it’s not the _Clone_ Wars.” Ahsoka replied as she braided Jeila’s blue hair. As a Togruta, she didn’t often get the chance to braid, she’d explained to Siri earlier.

“Snips.” Anakin chided her gently.

Ahsoka stuck out her tongue at him, but otherwise ignored her Master. Jeila giggled again.

“So, what war _are_ you fighting?” Venge enquired again, oh-so-casually. Siri raised an eyebrow at him.

“Nuh-uh, Master, not telling.” Annie leant back in the air and closed his eyes.

Venge raised both of his eyebrows. “Why is this different from the Other-When? Shouldn’t you tell us so we can stop the fighting before it happens?”

“I’m sorry, I appear to have become selectively deaf.” Anakin sat up and winked at Ahsoka. “Was he speaking Mando’a?”

Ahsoka gave him a withering stare.

He grinned and rolled over onto his stomach. “I’ve missed you, Master.”

Ahsoka quickly dipped her head back down to concentrate on Jeila’s hair. Siri decided that she didn’t want to know why the Togruta was crying.

Venge steepled his fingers under his chin, and Siri coughed at the _sheer force_ she could feel him directing in Anakin’s direction. Anakin glanced up, then made a show of picking at his nails.

“Hm.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Very good.”

“Thank you, Master.”

Siri snapped. “What? What is good?”

Venge turned towards her slowly (and terrifyingly, not that she’d ever tell Kenobi that). “I cannot sense past his shields at all.”

Siri blinked. “Bloody hell.”

Anakin looked down. “Like I said, good teacher.” He muttered into his chest.

Ahsoka looked up at Anakin with steel in her gaze. “And a good student. Who’s practised a lot. And has achieved what he wanted.”

Anakin reached over to squeeze her hand. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Not a problem.” Ahsoka pivoted to face Venge. “Well?”

Venge blinked owlishly, then closed his eyes and exacted the same force towards Anakin’s padawan. He opened his eyes, and narrowed them, and finally gave up with a huff.

Siri applauded, and Ahsoka grinned - impishly at first, then it faded into a sad smile. Siri pretended she hadn’t noticed.

Venge ignored them both. “You are decided that you will not tell us?”

“Yes, Master.” Anakin raised his head and looked Venge in the eye. “We’re decided.”

Venge stood up. “Very well. Spar with me?”

Anakin also stood up, but far more hesitantly. Ahsoka’s eyes widened. He tilted his head to the other end of the clearing, and they walked in that direction. Ahsoka followed them intently with her gaze, Jeila’s braids forgotten under her hands.

Siri watched for a bit, but she’d seen it all before. She shut her eyes, then her mind, as she fell slowly into meditation.

 

She rose out of meditation as Jeila climbed into her lap. Ahsoka was standing up next to her, and at the other end of the clearing-

At the other end of the clearing, _Anakin had his saber on Venge’s neck._

Siri blinked, and checked her watch. She’d been out ten minutes. Ten minutes! She suddenly wished she’d stayed in the here and now and watched what must have been an extremely humiliating fight.

Anakin released Venge, and grinned. “Well fought.”

Venge didn’t say anything.

Anakin laughed. “You were a very good -”

“My turn.” Ahsoka flicked her lightsaber into a reverse grip. Anakin ran, and Siri smirked. But Ahsoka looked serious. Deadly serious.

Venge cocked his head, and bowed to her. She dipped her head, and attacked.

 

Venge drew up his lightsaber to counter hers, and she slid away before his superior strength paid off. His saber shot forward, but she leapt out of the way with an impressive Force-enhanced jump. Impressive, but still pretty standard. Venge lazily twirled around and rained down short, sharp attacks on her. She dodged them all, without breaking a sweat. Siri sat up and starting paying attention. Venge raised an eyebrow, and with a jerk of his hand pulled a tree up by it’s roots and threw it at Ahsoka, who batted it away easily. She launched into attacking him once more, viciously jabbing wherever there was an opening. Siri hurriedly stood up, as…

Was the Togruta seriously picking up the whole fucking _swamp_? Whilst still dueling? Yes, yes she was. Siri was liking the kid more and more.

Ahsoka formed the murky water into a broiling mass above their heads, and Venge eyed it worriedly, when he had a spare moment in the onslaught of Tano’s lightsaber. He was still holding up well (still holding up well? When was the last time Siri had applied that phrase to Kenobi?), and could conceivably win this fight. Ahsoka had started to get predictable, and wasn’t changing her method enough. Venge jumped on this weakness, and exploited it with saber strikes in all the places she never expected. Then Ahsoka took one hand away from the fighting and, the next that Siri could see, a yellowish-green shoto had entered the fight. Venge blinked in surprise, and altered his style to suit the addition. Tano was obviously more comfortable working with two lightsabers. Siri grinned - she always admired a strong user of Jar’Kai. Kenobi lunged around the dual weapons and she let him get right up close, before dropping the ball of swamp water on top of him. Ahsoka grinned, but didn’t let her guard down. Venge shook himself like a wet dog and then breathed out. Siri felt the Fire before she saw it, as it burned through his skin and evaporated the water. Ahsoka shrugged, and went straight back into the duel.

 

Siri watched the duel in disbelief. Ahsoka must have been, what, fifteen? And fighting like that? What in the galaxy could have convinced Anakin to train her so hard?

“It didn’t convince _me_.” Anakin muttered from over her shoulder.

Siri had the horrible feeling that Skywalker had just read her mind (or else she’d accidentally said that out loud - Siri preferred to believe in the excellence of others rather than the idiocy of herself). She slammed her shields down. “And what does that mean?”

“It convinced her.” Anakin sighed. “There’s no way I could have helped her with any of this if she hadn’t realised how advanced her opponents were.”

Siri looked at him. If it was possible, he seemed to have grown up even more from the eighty-year-old boy he was in her timeline. “Force, Annie, what war are you fighting?”

He shook his head, and switched his concentration back to the sparring pair.

Had they really done so much - _gone back in time_ , some of them - for nothing? For something worse? Siri shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind, as Skywalker obviously wasn’t going to tell… for the moment.

 

Fifteen minutes later, and Venge was on his back in the middle of the swamp, with Ahsoka’s foot on his chest and her lightsabers framing his head.

Siri clapped wildly and Jeila joined in eagerly. Ahsoka grinned, and offered Venge a hand up. He took it, and used the Force to push himself up. Siri laughed at his sodden scowl.

“I’ve been to this damned swamp before.” Venge murmured. “I distinctly remember lying flat on my back in that particular area.”

Ahsoka snorted. “Who had completely destroyed you that time?”

Venge’s scowl deepened. “I’m pretty sure he was small and green. I’m going to go and look around. I want to know if something’s here yet.” He paused. “Or still here.”

Jeila ran across to her Master and grabbed his hand. He lifted her up onto his shoulders and set off into the swamp without another word.

Anakin, Ahsoka and Siri stared after them, and then at each other, and then burst out laughing.

 

“Come here, Snips.”

Ahsoka glanced back at Anakin, and used her arms and the Force to push herself over to where he was sitting on top of Siri’s cockpit. Siri looked up from her seat on the left wing to watch Anakin re-tying her disheveled silka bead braid, and replacing the silka beads that had fallen off. His fingers looked practised at the delicate work.

“What war are you fighting, Annie?”

Ahsoka sighed, and Anakin finished her braid. He exchanged a look with his padawan, and nodded. “You realise your future could be different, right?”

Siri stood up and climbed back onto the cockpit to sit next to them. “Of course.”

Anakin nodded, and opened his mouth to speak. When he hadn’t, after a minutes, Ahsoka nudged him. He jumped, and continued. “It won’t surprise you to know we’re fighting the Sith. I guess the difference between last time and now is that there are more than two. There’s hundreds, both alive and dead.”

Siri’s eyes widened. “Dead?”

“Yeah, mostly dead.” Annie shrugged. “Because there are more dead than there ever could be alive.”

“So why didn’t Sidious use the dead ones last time?”

“Because he was nowhere near powerful enough, either for them to follow him, or to manipulate them into something that can actually affect us.”

Siri tried very hard not to gag. “So, there’s a Sith Lord out there who’s way more powerful than Sidious?”

Anakin clammed up, and, after glancing up at her master, the teenage padawan took over. “The Sith army is lead by the standard two Sith, a Master and an Apprentice.”

“Do we know them now?” Siri murmured. “In my timeline? And where’s Sidious in all this?”

“Sidious is somewhere in the army. He’s not that important now.” Ahsoka’s answer was enough to terrify Siri.

“And yeah, we know them…” Anakin gave a bitter laugh.

“Well who are they?” Siri whispered. She felt like this swamp had ears. “Surely it would help me to know?”

The pair from Siri’s future sighed. Ahsoka squeezed Anakin’s hand. He sighed deeply. “The apprentice is known as Darth…” He stopped again.

“Darth Wraith.” Ahsoka filled in, finally.

Anakin nodded. “And his husband, his Master, is…”

Siri felt like kicking herself. Well, she felt like doing more than that, but it would be impractical. “Venge. It’s Venge, isn’t it.” Of course that was why they hadn’t told Kenobi. Of course…

“Yeah.” The pair hung their heads.

“That’s why you miss him.” Siri blinked away tears.

“Yeah.” Anakin said despondently.

Ahsoka patted his hand. “But they must still feel _something_ for us.”

Anakin looked up, with almost the same confused expression on his face as Siri had. “Why do you say that?”

The fifteen-year-old slotted her silka braid into place between her lekku. “Because no one else is powerful enough to create this time paradox. And Master Kenobi never passed up on an opportunity to spar with my Master.”

Anakin blinked rapidly. “You think he did this? In the future, to help us?”

“Well, I don’t know what else this could be.” Ahsoka replied bluntly.

“Yeah.”

Ahsoka leaned back to rest her head on her Master’s chest and he held her tightly.

Siri looked away, and let the tears flow.

 

Venge and Jeila arrived back an hour later.

“The Cave of Trial is still there. But someone-” He looked down at Jeila, who gripped his hand tighter, “-wouldn’t let me go in.”

Siri let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Thank the Force for small padawans.

“But the only explanation was that this was orchestrated by a powerful Force user…”

Siri zoned out, and didn’t hear any more of what her best friend was saying. She slipped off the cockpit into the shallow swamp and kicked open the engine compartment once again. She needed to get off this planet, _now_. She felt the side of the dimensional drive and was relieved to sense it was nearly at the right temperature.

The four Jedi on top of the ship flinched in synchronisation, and Siri came back to awareness. Anakin and Ahsoka jumped down off the cockpit.

“I think we’re about to leave.” Ahsoka hugged her. “May the Force be with you, Siri.”

“And you, Snips.” Siri murmured back.

Anakin nodded briefly at Siri, Jeila waved vigorously and Venge gave a small smile. Siri contorted her features to return it. Venge frowned, and opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but then the Force rippled, and Siri was alone with her tin-bucket ship. The dimension drive fired up, and Siri looked around at the swamp for what she sincerely hoped was the last time, before getting in the cockpit and taking off.

 

As the ship left the small planet’s atmosphere, Siri tried to avoid thinking about how Qui-Gon Jinn could have earned the title “Wraith”. Their future had better be different, because with a pair like that as their enemies, they were thoroughly screwed. Oh Force, she hoped their future changed.

 

 


End file.
